Child Sponsorship Background from Tete, Mozambique

SOS Children's Village Tete

The SOS Children's Village Tete is situated along the main road leading from Zimbabwe to Malawi.  It has been welcoming children since October 1987 and comprises fifteen family houses, a house for the village director, a workshop, an administrative building, a small clinic, training rooms for basket weaving, shoe making and electronics, a bakery, a farm, a tree nursery and a water purification plant.

Other SOS Projects in Tete

An SOS Nursery School is part of the Children's Village as well; it consists of four group rooms, a kitchen and a playground and has a capacity for up to 100 children.  Primary and secondary school education for up to 1,320 students is offered at the SOS Primary and Secondary School, which comprises nineteen classrooms, a laboratory and a sewing room.  Children who have already outgrown the SOS Children's Village move to the SOS Youth Home, where they stay during their vocational training or higher education and prepare for an independent life.  Three youth houses, one in Matundo, the second one in Matema and third one on the same premises as the SOS Children's Village Tete, make up the SOS Youth Home, where up to 72 teenagers can be accommodated.

An SOS Social Centre was opened in April 2004, offering help to HIV/AIDS affected families in the area.  The aim of this centre is to support and strengthen socially and economically disadvantaged families.  This avoids these families breaking down and enables the children to grow up with their biological relatives.  It offers home-based care, supports several community nursery schools, runs nutrition programmes for between 100 and 120 children each, and runs a school placement programme.  Additionally, capacity building and income generating activities are provided, as well as psycho-social support.  Up to 2,000 children and their families receive support through this outreach programme.

Background to Tete

Tete is the capital city of the Tete Province in Mozambique.  It is the largest city located on the Zambezi River. Historically, it was a Swahili trade centre before the Portugese colonial era.  The population has roughly trebled since the mid 1980s and the city is now home to more than 150,000 people.  In the Tete province, severe droughts are always a threat and frequently destroy the harvests of the whole region.